I recently worked with a client which was trying to find out if there was any benefit to breaking his current mortgage to get today's lower rates.

Current mortgage details as follows;
$300,000 Current Balance
5.50%, 5 year term with an amortization period of 25 years
$1,831.17 Monthly Payments Principal and Interest
$267,562.82 Balance Remaining at the end of the term

New Mortgage details as follows;
$310,000 New Balance adding $10,000 in penalties
3.09%, 5 year term with an amortization period of 25 years
$1,481.41 Monthly Payments Principal and Interest, a difference of $349.76
$265,428.15 Balance Remaining at the end of the term, interest savings of $33,120.27.

Now if you use my strategy of increasing your payments you will see that you save a lot more money. I increased the payment by 20%, new payment $1,777.69, which is less than what was paid before and now the balance at the end of the term works out to $246,240.71 and you are left with 19 years and 7 months for a total amortization period.